Sports Illustrated released a new A-Rod story today. Before you shrug your shoulders and return to your day, consider the title- “How MLB let A-Rod use PED’s during the ’07 Season” That probably got your attention.

Now one of the things that has mystified me during this process is how the Yankees could let those home run clauses in A-Rod’s contract stand uncontested. Why would the Yankees pay A-Rod for home runs that were hit with the help of PED’s? I think we might have an answer.

A-Rod applied for and was given an exemption to use testosterone before the 2007 season by MLB. Personally, I find that amazing, but shock is probably something I should stop feeling when it comes to MLB and PED’s. You can make the argument that MLB wouldn’t necessarily have told the Yankees about that exemption, but I can’t really believe that. And if the Yankees knew about that and then signed him to that massive deal, they lose any credibility they would have had in a courtroom.

So my first question as a member of the press to the Yankees’ brass today would be, “Did the organization know that Alex had a testosterone exemption for the 2007 season?” My second one would be, assuming the answer to the first one is yes, “How did that affect your contract negotiations with him after the season?”

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In 2007, of the 1,354 players subjected to testing, 111 were granted a TUE. Only two, apparently including Rodriguez, received an exemption for “androgen deficiency medications,” the category that would include testosterone. The other exemptions that year involved treatments for baldness, hypertension and — predominantly — attention deficit disorder.